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It has been a year. In 2017 there was a lot for film fans to contemplate, but in what they say on the screen and in the wider film business. Month after month, entertaining, challenging and interesting films found their way onto Irish screens, either from Hollywood or any number of our own talented Irish directors. It was a year where the sickeningly pervasive culture of abuse in cinema was thrust into the headlines by brave survivors no longer willing to suffer in silence. It was also a year in great filmmaking, where talented, diverse directors were given the opportunity to show their talent, several for the first time, where performances transported us just as believably to the far-off future, the underprivileged, overlooked present and even outside the fluid realm of time altogether. This is Film In Dublin’s list of the best films of 2017, the films that moved us, entertained us, opened our eyes and otherwise expressed everything that cinema is meant to be, in a year that showed that cinema doesn’t always achieve those lofty ideals behind the scenes.

Dunkirk is one of those films that sets very high stakes for itself before the trailers are even released. Christopher Nolan took a risk tackling a subject that is still holds significance in the collective memory of so many. That said, the technical brilliance of the film is clear from poster to trailer to the film’s opening moments, so it’s to be expected that the Film In Dublin team would all end up watching Dunkirk on the big screen. We found that our opinions varied from Luke’s “all-out immersive assault on the senses” to “spectacle over emotion” and so we decided to collect some of our team’s reactions to one of the summer’s biggest films. Nolan has always been a divisive director and reactions to Dunkirk have been no different, so check out what our writers had to say.

It’s not easy narrowing the best films of the year down to 10, particularly when you’re looking for a consensus between 6 writers with different tastes, who have all seen a different number of films this year. We think we did a pretty good job all things considered, we hope you’d agree. But there’s always going to be a great movie or two missing out. In our personal best of 2016 lists that we used to find common ground, we each had a personal favourite that missed out, so we decided to give those films their due here. We open up the floor to you too Film In Dublin readers, were you scrolling frantically in search of Doctor Strange or writing an angry letter about the omission of 10 Cloverfield Lane? What was missing from our top 10 of 2016 list?

The urge is understandable to avoid a retrospective of the year 2016. Not since Lot’s wife decided to take a cheeky glance back at Sodom has looking back at something been more likely to produce misery and misfortune the way this year has, but that only makes it all the more important to go back over the few bright spots, particularly for movie lovers. 2016 was undoubtedly a great year for Irish cinema, with 9 Oscar nominations and two wins, Irish films showing prominently in festivals around the globe, major stars and filmmakers coming to film on the island and some eye-catching box office success. Of course, 2016 is a year that will always stand out to the writers at Film In Dublin, as this was the year that the site launched and since mid-July we’ve worked hard to show you the positives and the pitfalls of navigating through the fair city of cinema.

With the year almost over, our writers have compiled a list of some of this year’s cinematic highlights. Balloting every member for their own top picks of the year, a consensus was more or less reached on ten outstanding films, cinema that provided a welcome distraction from the horrors of the last twelve months, helped sharpen our focus from the lessons to be learned from the year, or both. We’re sure to have left out some of your favourites; in keeping the list to the very best of the best we’ve had to omit some of our own best loved choices so we’re more than open to suggestions on what else could have been considered. Here though, are Film In Dublin’s picks for the top 10 films of 2016.Read more…

Christmas time is upon us now and for many (certainly for this website with the word ‘film’ in its title), Christmas is a time for movies. Whether that means catching Back to the Future halfway through on RTÉ for the seventeenth year in a row or popping in your Home Alone DVD to watch while you’re wrapping presents, everyone has their own traditions and favourites. For anyone looking for some suggestions for what to watch this Christmas, some of the Film In Dublin team have put together some personal picks for you, complete with clips (some of which are NSFW, just so you know). Christmas classics can vary greatly from person to person and we’d love to know some of our readers personal favourites, so feel free to let us know.